Matthew 9:37-38 “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
Luke 10:2 “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
John 4:35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
Imagine yourself a wheat farmer in Kansas. As you look across your fields, you carefully note that they are ready to be harvested. You make plans to begin to the harvest immediately. You are expecting a good harvest because your fields are “white already unto harvest.” What would happen if you decided not to harvest the wheat? The “white” harvest would be lost.
Jesus said in John 4:35, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” If we will look at the world through the eyes of our Lord with the eye of faith, we must agree the fields are white to harvest. What happens if we do not go as laborers into the fields to harvest. The “white” harvest is lost.
Jesus also said in Mt 9:37 and 38, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Obviously, God is telling us that the harvest is “plenteous.” The problem is laborers. What if the laborers do not go? The harvest is lost. It will not be “plenteous.” What a tragedy!
Why are so little of these “white” fields harvested?
Unbelieving Disobedience
Some do not go and harvest simply because they do not believe the harvest is “plenteous.” They do not see the fields, as Jesus did, “white already to harvest.” As a result they simply do not go. They do not pass out tracts or speak a word of witness. They do not ask folks about their eternal destiny. This believer is in disobedience as a child of God and is defeated in evangelism.
Unbelieving Obedience
Some go but they do not believe the harvest is “plenteous”, so they do not go expecting and therefore, do not see much harvest. They do not believe the fields are “white already to harvest,” so they do not go with faith anticipating folks to get saved. What a tragedy to go in unbelief! Although this believer goes, he also is defeated in evangelistic efforts. “But without faith it is impossible to please” God.
Why would one be in unbelief about the harvest?
Defeat
Some are interpreting the Bible through their lack of experience. Since they have not experienced much harvest, they don’t believe the harvest to be “white” and therefore, sure. Since they have seen precious few, if any, saved through their efforts, they don’t believe the harvest to be “plenteous.” They are letting their defeated experiences in evangelism shape what they think about these clear statements of Scripture.
Hyper-Calvinism
Some time a warped view of God’s sovereignty puts the responsibility on God in such a way that folks “blame” God for the lost harvest. Friends, the lost harvest is not God’s doing. He tells us the harvest is “white”, “plenteous” and “great.” It is our failure to believe God that results in a lost harvest. God has prepared the fields. He is constantly preparing hearts. When we do not walk by faith, we miss glorious opportunities to “harvest” these “white” fields. God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” If we do not step out in belief upon God’s Word, we do not see God do the miraculous in convicting and redeeming lost men and women. Does this not convict us and challenge us to obedient dependence upon God and His Word?
Recently a young man at Baptist College of Ministry fell under conviction about his defeat in evangelism. He decided to step out on faith and go expecting God to work. God led him to a nearby public high school. On one of his first visits to this school, he began a conversation with an older gentleman who was a bus driver. He asked the driver if he knew where he would go if he died. The man indicated he did not know where he would go if he died. He then asked him if he could show him from the Bible how he could know if he died he was going to heaven. The man shook his head “no” and waved him off. Normally, this young man said he would have left. But God very clearly burdened him to continue. “But sir, you just told me you did not know where you would go if you died,” he exclaimed. The older man let this college student come on his bus and present the gospel. A short time later he was praying to trust Christ. This student was thrilled. Praise the Lord the “white” harvest was not lost in this case.
When Jesus commissioned His disciples, he said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Why did He say this? Because the fields are “white already to harvest” and the “harvest truly is plenteous.” Fellow laborers, let us not lose the harvest! Go in faith standing upon God’s Word and “preach the gospel.” “The harvest truly is plenteous.” The fields are “white already to harvest.” The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation.” God’s “grace is sufficient.” He is “with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
